IAM142-Author and Human Resource CEO Helps Healthcare Companies Fill Hard-to-Fill Positions

Rhian is the President and CEO of Sharp Medical Recruiting and HR Consulting. She started her company 3 years ago as a response to the ever-increasing demand for qualified direct and indirect care staff in all area of healthcare. Rhian has been in Human Resources for over 20 years and hold both an MBA and a Masters Certificate in Human Resources Management. She is the author of the new book Maximum Employee Engagement (How Healthcare Companies Keep Their Best People). Rhian is originally from the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is a mother to 2 amazing kids and is an avid runner, swimmer and figure competitor.

• CEO Hack: (1) Developing habits that create a level of discipline in the business and personal life. (2) A book; Zero Limits
• CEO Nugget: Be confident, confidence is everything
• CEO Defined: Being in control of your life and destiny. Seeing your business from all aspects and maintaining control. 

Website: https://www.sharpmedicalrecruiting.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhian-sharp-mba-mhr-75924325/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Employee-Engagement-Healthcare-Companies/dp/0692095713

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Rhian Sharp of Sharp Medical Recruiting. Rhian, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Rhian Sharp 0:36

Yes, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me, Gresham. This is great.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

No problem. Happy to have you on and what I want to do, is read a little bit more about Rhian so you can hear and learn a little bit more about her. Rhian is the President and CEO of Sharp Medical Recruiting and HR Consulting. She started a company three years ago as a response to the ever-increasing demand for qualified direct and indirect care staff in all areas of health care. Rhian has been in human resources for over 20 years and holds both an MBA and a Master's Certificate in Human Resource Management.

She's the author of the new book, Maximum Employee Engagement how healthcare companies keep their best people. Rhian is originally from the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and is a mother of two amazing kids and is an avid runner, swimmer, and figure competitor. Rhian, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Rhian Sharp 1:26

I am gosh, that sounds like I'm overly ambitious when you read it.

Gresham Harkless 1:31

No, you're Superwoman. So what I wanted to do, which is to kick everything off to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and hear how you became Superwoman.

Rhian Sharp 1:40

Yeah, so you're really correct. I was in HR for a really long time. For 20 years, I've worked with really large companies, and McKesson was one of them. And, throughout the entire process, I just felt like I wanted to do something on my own. And, you just have that I think all intrapreneurs have that kind of nagging voice that stays with them, regardless of what you do, you either can't get about satisfied in the job, or there's something missing. And for me that something was okay, what can I provide as an individual versus as an employee and make a good living? And really add value to organizations, specifically healthcare, because that's where I cut my teeth if you will.

And from there, I just kind of kept putting it off, putting it off, I kept working, my nine to five, nine to 20. As well as people work way more than nine to five these days. And then, just three years ago, I put on my parachutes and I'm gonna just go ahead and take a leap of faith I sold a house that I had, which was really just too big for me and my kids and sold it.

I  used some of the proceeds from that just as a cushion to start the business and just started calling contacts that I knew and getting contracts and starting placements because in Healthcare if anybody is familiar with healthcare, we always have this extreme shortage of staff, whether it's in the front office or back office in terms of physicians or nurses. And that's, where I started to play first. And that's really in a nutshell, how I got started with the company.

Gresham Harkless 3:14

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And especially and I always hear, whenever I'm watching the news, like, there's a shortage of nurses, and there's a shortage and this, it seems like, there's never enough people. So it's great that you, saw a problem that seems like anything, and you decided to create a solution around that.

Rhian Sharp 3:28

Yeah. I'm in one of those spaces that, with all of the debate around healthcare reform, or Obamacare, or whatever somebody's calling in these days, it's kind of scary, because, on the one side, I hear all of this distress around affordable health care.

And then I see the extreme shortage, which is not getting any better, by the way, for whatever reason, I mean, we just never will have enough qualified health care providers, unless something is done to really manage the cost, it's going to continue to inflate. So on the one hand, I'm benefiting from it. And on the other hand, I'm also like, I'm part of the rest of the community that is consuming health care at the costs that we have right now. So it's just definitely a catch-22 For me.

Gresham Harkless 4:15

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And, now I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear how you're helping to kind of support these clients. I know you touched on a little bit, but could you tell us a little bit more about what you do for your clients?

Rhian Sharp 4:24

So of course, one of the main things that my clients request would be to help them fill hard-to-fill positions. And a lot of those positions are Doctor jobs. So either a lot of psychiatrists jobs child and adolescent psychiatrist is the biggest shortage area in psychiatry at this point. It's kind of sad and scary, but yeah, a lot of Child and Adolescent doctors are needed.

I do a lot of physical therapist placement, and home health placements because as you can imagine, as our baby boomers are getting older, they want to be in their homes, which has given extreme rise to the need for home Health Services, of course, then gives rise to a need for home health providers. So that's the first leg of it is the placement.

The next service that we provide is training. So in terms of management and leadership training, we provide a lot of in-service for our clients, if they're struggling with employee relations issues, they have new managers who've come on to help them lead the organization. And you're that person may have been a really good direct care person, a good direct care provider, but they may or may not be the best manager.

So they need a little bit of coaching or training. And we come in and provide in-house training and coaching for them as well. I've always gotten emotional getting requests for payroll services, we do not provide payroll services. But apparently, maybe we should, though, because a lot of people have been asking for help with payroll, it's just one of the nagging things that's a need. But so those are the two areas, recruiting and then training and employee development.

Gresham Harkless 5:54

Awesome. awesome. awesome. Yeah. And maybe somebody you decide to do payroll down the line, potentially. But no, it's great that you're helping out with those two kinds of core services, because like you've mentioned, a lot of people do need help with those services. So being able to have somebody they can call on and get the training and also kind of being able to find staff definitely helps out a time.

Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be what you feel kind of distinguishes you or sets you apart. So could you give us an example of a secret sauce for you and your organization?

Rhian Sharp 6:22

Yeah. So I think that maybe I have two secret sauces. The recipe so let me know the first ingredient is tenacity. And I think that that's that helps me a lot in terms of being a recruiter, I mean, especially working with hard-to-fill jobs. Most of the people who are who I'm looking for are not looking for work. And they're 3050 other people calling them day in and day out asking them if they're ready to make a change to another employer?

And, you can't accept no as, as the answer. No is the answer for right now. And I think that's what I've been able to do a lot is to just kind of make lots of copious notes and follow up and just really be tenacious around continuing to be in contact to provide information for them, whether it's changed in the industry, or what have you.

So that's the first one, I think the next ingredient would be just knowledge about the industry. So if I have a coffee meeting with somebody, I always want to know what's happening specifically, within the context of their business, whether there's an acquisition pending, whether they're layoff spending, I'm getting that information really helps my next to the clients, but also helps me think through things with the person that I'm talking with.

And it also helps candidates because then a candidate for XYZ facility, for example, may not be aware that the facility of their dreams, the hospital of their dreams, is getting ready to open up a new wing, but I mean, all that information.

So just always being involved with a specific organization, and always following up with them and asking them for detailed information about the line of business. And I think that the next is using social media to your advantage in terms of getting your brand out there, but not relying exclusively on social media. And by that I mean, I think that a lot of us, we've kind of gotten used to social media doing the legwork for us whether it's contacting people via kind of Robo messaging, but in truth, in my line of business, specifically, healthcare as a whole is very kind of hands-on and intimate.

And really picking up the phone and calling people is so much better than just relying on whether it's a constant contact message or just LinkedIn or any of the social platforms. It's a good base, but it's not going to distinguish you from your competitors, because everybody's kind of using a lot of social services at this point.

Gresham Harkless 8:45

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. A lot of times, like you mentioned, with social media, especially, is that a lot of time to break through the noise you have being something that's different because everybody's now shifting towards I'm going to do everything online. Sometimes when you're able to just go and do a phone call, or whatever it is, that's a little bit more tangible. It lets you essentially set you apart you and the organization apart.

Rhian Sharp 9:04

Yes, definitely. And you see it more and more in all aspects of life. I mean, it's if you can get somebody in a more organic setting, ie real life, then you have a hybrid relationship and the client, a good strong client versus just kind of socializing via social media.

Gresham Harkless 9:26

Makes perfect sense. Awesome, awesome. awesome. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Rhian Sharp 9:39

So, my hacks I think first of all, we talked about my working out in my running and those types of habits. I think creating habits is so important because discipline, when you lead, is important, and if you can create a habit that allows for a greater love level of discipline, then that in itself will allow you to be a better leader and CEO and, make more conscious and clear decisions. So, leadership and being a CEO is not for everybody, some people are happy being employees, and they have a set schedule, they have a set group of things that they like to do. However, if you want to lead anyone to be a CEO, anyone kind of stands out from the rest, you have to develop these habits. And I think that for me, running and lifting, and being physically active, helps create a level of discipline that allows me to have that level of discipline in the business.

So I'll create a schedule of things that I need to do every day, and I'll be sure that running and physical activity is part of that schedule. And then when I get back, I'm able to really focus on whether it's calling a new client, whether it's signing a new contract, whether it's reaching out to some new psychiatrist, new nurse practitioners, or what have you.

So definitely developing the habit of running to allow for a greater level of discipline is important. There's one book that I'm reading now, it's about being sure that there are no limits, I think, zero limits is the name of the book. And it talks a lot about, , just kind of creating that energy around yourself to bring new things and an improved sense of being into your life. And I think that also adds to this idea of discipline and allowing for creativity in your life. So I think that's a long way of answering your question.

Gresham Harkless 11:47

That's a great way of answering the question because I think a lot of things that I try to do, sometimes I can say, vibrate higher. So one thing I do try to do is jog so that I can vibrate higher, but like you said, just so that you have that kind of mentality that you I guess I'm talking about in the book, where you have no limits, where you can start to approach things in a different way. Because you are doing those practices, which allow you to kind of think at a higher level and get your blood flowing everything.

Rhian Sharp 12:11

Exactly. And, it's, negative energy is very easy to pull you under. And it's so important to remember that you are in control of your life. And that's one of the values and the beauties of being a CEO being a leader you're able to really channel positive energy to allow yourself to be in control of your life and your own space. So it's always it's important to remember that space between your head is so critical to your overall development.

Gresham Harkless 12:45

Makes perfect sense. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. So if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Rhian Sharp 12:54

Be confident, and, I think confidence is everything. You're gonna make mistakes, everybody makes mistakes, but just the ability to say, You know what I'm going to learn from that mistake, I'm confident in the decisions that I've made and the decisions that I've made, I've weighed them pretty carefully, but not to the extent where I want to like overanalyze my decisions too much because time is a resource that you really don't get back.

So really, having the confidence to look at the decisions make it fails, and pick yourself up and try Plan B or Plan C or Plan D, but just have that level of confidence in yourself to do it. And it's easy to say be confident, but it's super hard to actually be confident when you have all these people asking you Are you sure? Are you kidding? Are you crazy? You have so many naysayers, but again, it's about shutting out all of that negative energy. So really having that level of focus to say, what I am, I really am in touch with who I am. And I am really confident with what I'm doing. And I'm probably going to make a bunch of mistakes. And it's going to be really painful. But at the end of it, you'll be successful, because you've tried again, after failing, and you've learned so much from failure.

So definitely confidence is like the biggest, most important thing. I met a client or prospective client this past Thursday. And he said to me, he's a super smart guy, but he just didn't feel as though he would ever be able to do his own business because he just felt like he didn't have that confidence, he just didn't feel confident enough to go out and ask for business and try to generate new contracts. So he's perfectly content working within an organization. So definitely the confidence piece.

Gresham Harkless 14:42

Absolutely. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, and we touched on it a little bit, but it's the definition of what it means to be a CEO. So we're having different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you

Rhian Sharp 14:54

Being in control of your own life, your own destiny, being able to have the decision to think through the decision and to execute to have variability in your life. So you're not focused on one functional area, whether it's human resources or finance, you're in many, multiple different areas of a business. So you get to see the business from all different functional areas.

So that variety is definitely part of being a CEO, being able to fail, and then pick yourself up and dust yourself off and start again, all of those things are really, defined that idea of, of CEO, but I think that people look at it and think, oh, you know, leadership, and you just kind of sit back in a, in a golden chair, that golden office in a corner room with the sun beaming through your window. And that's not necessarily the truth at all. And, God bless those CEOs who have that, but it's a lot of work. It's a lot of challenges, but it's a lot of wins to win, you overcome that challenge.

Gresham Harkless 15:57

I would definitely agree with that. And Rhian, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then also how best they can get ahold of you. 

Rhian Sharp 16:10

Sure, well, thank you, Gresh. This is really great. I enjoyed it. If anybody has questions, they're always welcome to email or call me my name is not the easiest. It's rhian@sharpmedicalrecruiting.com. that's all one word. Or you can call my telephone number is 404-670-4786. Call anytime. If you are interested in finding out about my book, if you want to keep your employees and not go through the headache of constantly recruiting my book, again, this Maximum Employee Engagement is how healthcare companies keep their best people. And it's for all, I've been in multiple functional areas.

So if you are not in healthcare, and you want some valuable advice, the book is good about providing steps around that as well. And don't be a stranger. I'm on LinkedIn. So that's a good way to reach me also. And any questions just call or email.

Gresham Harkless 17:01

Awesome, awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you, Rhian. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes so that anybody can follow up. But I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rhian Sharp 17:10

You too Gresham. Thanks so much. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you.

Outro 17:15

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

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